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SNMMI Supports NIH Funding for 2018

June 1, 2017

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging has submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services supporting increased funding in 2018 for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The subcommittee will meet June 9, 2017.

Our testimony supports the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research — a coalition of more than 300 patient and voluntary health groups, medical and scientific societies, academic and research organizations, and industry. It asks Congress for an increase of at least $2 billion above FY 2017 for NIH, in addition to funds included in the 21st Century Cures Act for targeted initiatives. This funding level would enable real growth over biomedical inflation as an important step to ensuring stability in the nation’s research capacity over the long term. Moreover, the recommendations help advance the scientific momentum envisioned by the 21st Century Cures Act – enacted with broad bipartisan support – in which the Innovation Account supplements the agency’s base budget. Securing a reliable, robust budget trajectory for NIH will be key in positioning the agency – and the patients who rely on it – to capitalize on the full range of research in the biomedical, behavioral, social, and population-based sciences.

The President proposed an $8 billion or 24% cut for the NIH which according to one analysis would mean 5000 to 8000 fewer grants.